In the latest installment of Propel, our podcast series on self-driving vehicles, New York partner Paul Keller interviews Lando Juarez, Uber’s Head of Legal for Autonomous Mobility and Delivery, about Uber’s historical and current efforts to leverage its demand aggregation platform technology with AV developers and fleet owners.

Listen to Paul and Lando as they discuss Uber’s recent sale of Uber Advanced Technologies Group to Aurora, Uber’s on-going involvement in the AV space post-sale and the overall state of AV development, which has been called the “moonshot of this generation.”

Australia based partner, Jason Denisenko and Middle East based counsel, Kamar Jaffer put the spotlight on Australia as they discuss opportunities in alternative investments and market trends from both the manager and investor perspective.

Topics discussed in this podcast include:

Recent trends in Australia’s fund raising environment

The type of fund vehicles being used in Australia

Investment strategies and opportunities in Australia

Legal, regulatory and policy developments

Fund managers’ focus on governance and economics

The industry’s approach to ESG

The trends on institutional capital

Developments on secondaries

Looking in to 2021 and beyond

This Great Fund Insights podcast will be of interest to sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, family offices, fund managers and portfolio companies with a focus on Australia.

Our APAC Restructuring & Recovery lawyers take a detailed look at the recent and significant decision by the Hong Kong court in Re Lamtex Holdings Limited.

This case concerns a Bermudan-incorporated debtor company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with its centre of main interests (‘COMI’) in Hong Kong and with operations in Mainland China and Hong Kong.  The Hong Kong court decided to wind up the company in view of the limited evidence that any proposed restructuring would be successful.

In a detailed discussion moderated by Karen Chan; Ian Chapman and Viola Jing from our Asia Pacific Restructuring & Recovery Group, along with Look Chan Ho of Des Voeux Chambers unpack the Hong Kong Court’s decision and discuss its implications for Hong Kong based restructurings on the recognition of offshore provisional liquidators and the availability of judicial assistance to stay enforcement action in Hong Kong. The panel consider the shift by the Hong Kong court towards an ‘UNCITRAL Model Law’ approach, displacing primacy of place of incorporation of the debtor company in favour of its COMI, and discuss the following issues:

The Hong Kong court’s recent approach to the jurisdiction to wind up foreign companies and the debtors’ application for adjournment for restructuring purposes.

What is the direction of the Hong Kong court’s approach to application by foreign liquidators and provisional liquidators for recognition and assistance in Hong Kong?

In light of the Lamtex Decision, what are the pros and cons for companies looking to have “soft-touch” provisional liquidators appointed in the place of incorporation?

If recognition and assistance of foreign insolvency proceedings in Hong Kong is discretionary, what are the alternative options? Is there an option for a CRO as an alternative?

How should the future of the restructuring and cross-border recognition regime look like? Should section 193 of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance be amended?

If section 193 is amended, is COMI the deciding factor?

In this episode of In Credit, A&O consumer finance team Joanne Owens, Victoria Ferres and Sophie Skeet are joined by A&O Consulting executive director Claire Haydon to discuss the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) long-awaited finalised guidance on vulnerable customers. This guidance applies to all firms where the FCA’s Principles for Businesses apply, regardless of sector and to the supply of products or services to retail customers even if a firm does not have a direct client relationship with the customer.

In this episode, the panellists explain how firms should understand the harms their customers may be vulnerable to throughout the whole customer journey so that those firms can ensure that vulnerable customers receive the same fair treatment and outcomes as other customers. The panellists also look in detail at the specific chapters including:

Understanding the needs of vulnerable customers

Skills and capabilities of staff

Taking practical action

Monitoring and evaluating compliance

For information on this or any related topics, please get in touch with the speakers, or your usual A&O contact.

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As part of Allen & Overy’s interview series on virtual hearings, Frankfurt partner Anna Masser interviews Dr Ula Cartwright-Finch on the psychological side of virtual hearings.

In the latest installment of Propel, our podcast series on self-driving vehicles, New York partner Paul Keller speaks with Councillor Tom Hayes, Council Deputy Leader in Oxford, UK, about the role the City’s mobility plans play in its efforts to de-carbonize Oxford. Councillor Hayes shares with us Oxford’s efforts to address the climate crisis in the UK, the road to achieving a zero emissions city and the challenges that self-driving vehicles may face in a city like Oxford.

To kick off Season 2, our panellists take us on a whistle-stop tour across Asia-Pacific, discussing the latest capital market and restructuring developments and their implications for trusts and agencies. Topics include:

Topics include:

Emergence of sustainable bonds in Asia Pacific: from green bonds to blue bonds to social bonds and now, transition bonds 

Rise of alternative clearing options in China. Understanding this system and its requirements

Update on regulatory capital requirements in Asia Pacific

State of play with restructurings in Indonesia and expectation for a wave of bond defaults in China 

Rise of high-yield issuances in Southeast Asia in 2021 

Development of sustainability linked products and the increasing presence of convertible and equity linked securities in the region

The discussion, which is moderated by Holly Hart, senior associate in the Asia Pacific Corporate Trust and Agency Team, features the following speakers:

Tim Beech, partner and head of the Asia Pacific Corporate Trust and Agency Team

Jaclyn Yeap, partner, advising on capital markets transactions across Greater China

Felipe Duque, partner, advising on strategic debt and equity investments, and product innovation across Asia 

Aloysius Tan, partner, advising on debt and equity capital markets in Singapore and cross-border

Rivan Supriadi, senior associate in Jakarta, advising on financing and restructurings in Indonesia

The Trust Us series presents succinct overviews of hot topics for trustees in the APAC market. These podcasts are based on webinars hosted for clients. Please note this episode was recorded on 3rd March 2021 and references developments occurring at that time.

As part of our focus on ESG, Paul Sampson and Ellie Wells from our Funds & Asset Management practice speak to Peter Dunbar at the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in relation to ESG issues on the horizon for fund managers and investors. Peter shares his insights on the importance of managers and investors participating in the discussion around ESG, navigating the regulatory, commercial and market pressures that stakeholders face and the due diligence questionnaire developed by PRI for LPs.

In this second podcast, members of Allen & Overy’s FinTech team Heenal Vasu, Ben Regnard-Weinrabe, and Catherine Di Lorenzo, discuss the changes that DORA will bring for technology service providers in the EU, and some of the practical steps that these service providers should take to prepare.

In the first podcast on the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Regulation, known as DORA, members of Allen & Overy’s FinTech team Heenal Vasu and Nikki Johnstone, together with Tom Anderson of A&O Consulting look at the changes that DORA will bring to the financial entities across Europe.